Carolinian

Issue date: 2/20/07 Section: Opinions

Samantha's defaced Safe Zone training award.

On Feb. 12, something that can only be called an incident of hate took place on this campus. No, it wasn't anything as serious as someone being beaten or murdered, but an act of hate was committed nonetheless. Someone, who will probably never be caught or punished for their actions, took it upon themselves to vandalize someone's personal space with a hateful slur.

Sophomore Samantha Korb opened her door at around 2 p.m. to find the word "FAG" written in pencil on the Safe Zone training award she displayed proudly on her door. Safe Zone is a program on campus that trains students and faculty to be able to talk to, counsel, and support students on campus who fall into any of the non-straight categories or may be questioning their sexuality. Safe Zone also exists to spread awareness and sensitivity, and to help prevent instances such as this.

"I was shocked at first and then threatened. I couldn't believe someone could do that to someone else," said Samantha when I asked about her initial feelings. For her, it isn't about the material damage; the award can be replaced and has very little monetary value. It is the principle of the matter that has her and others on campus who have heard about the incident upset. What she finds most upsetting is that "someone would take time out of their day to hate... and take it to level where they would show it in a way that makes me feel disgraced as human being."

Samantha isn't naive or overly optimistic. She knows that homophobia exists and that there are those who, because this was a minor incident, will suggest that she ignore it and just let it go instead of drawing attention to herself. But she disagrees with those who think that sweeping it under the rug will make the problem go away. The problem isn't just that someone wrote "FAG" on her certificate; it's that people think their closed-minded hate gives them the right to do such horrible things. To quietly ignore this incident would be condoning it and other similiar acts by creating an environment where it's okay to do things like this and give way for bigger acts of hate. If we start ignoring things such as this, it's only a matter of time before it's seen as acceptable or permissible to verbally and physically harass non-straight people. We need to start speaking out more.

Instead of being passive and silent, Samantha reported the incident to her CA, RCC, the faculty of her dorm, campus police, the Wellness Center and to the Multicultural Resource Center. According to her, the director of her dorm expressed anger over the incident and has mandated three hall meetings about what has happened.

Continued...

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